March 2018

Mar 16, 2012

Years ago I asked some sports marketing types to quantify the PR value of the Greensboro Coliseum -- all those logo shots and mentions of the city during nationally-televised ballgames -- and they came up with a very large number.

This placated the Coliseum haters not one bit, of course.

Nor does the fact that the City operates other amenities (e.g., parks) without any hope of a cash return, because the value to the community comes in other forms.

The hard number I've been searching for is tax revenue generated by the Coliseum.

Today, Don Patterson reports that this year's NCAA tourney alone will bring in about $300,000 in local taxes. Now, you can chip away at that sum in a few ways, but the upshot is that over the course of a year, the Coliseum is adding a substantial amount of revenue to City coffers.

Enough to completely offset annual operating losses, or to make a serious dent in them? That's a question I'd still like to see answered.

I cannot believe you cited that as worthwhile. As is typical of Patterson, the only thing "reported" are unattributed proclamations and unsubstantiated assertions. A real reporter might check it out, you know, source the claims and substantiate them with some research and fact finding. Patterson does perform that job, he's a stenographer.

There is NO real way to determine the revenue the coliseum brings, short of actual interviews with participants. So the media is willing accomplices as they parrot numbers guessed by individuals whose only experience is just time in the job. Granted doing a poll to determine actual revenue would be expensive; but, in the end it would be a waste of time. The Coliseum will attract a few thousand people and as long as Duke and Carolina are playing on Sunday, the national audience will see a mostly full coliseum.

Until such time as we have a city government serious about the cost of living and higher than averages taxes in the area, the coliseum remains free to do as it wants and the media will congratulate the coliseum and it self for such a great job.

But, but, but... Andy says, "Ribar could certainly do it. So could Jud. Or me. There are various ways to zero in on the effect on city- and county-government coffers.

There are different ways to do economic impact, and one distinction is gross vs. net. The net approach probably makes the most sense for something like this does, and it does indeed focus on spending by out-of-town visitors. (Unless one can show that the amenity also induces greater spending by in-town folks.)"

I'm with Don to some degree as "hard numbers" are going to be difficult to verify, quantify (whatever). The "white elephanters" wont believe them anyway ... no matter what. To Roch's point, I would like to at least see some info, stats etc from management/ownership of local eateries, hotels, etc along HP Rd and Wendover.

"There is NO real way to determine the revenue the coliseum brings, short of actual interviews with participants."

I think this is incorrect.

Surely you can compare restaurant and hotel traffic, tax receipts, etc during major Coliseum events vs other times and come up with a meaningful estimate of any boost provided by those events. Sampling the crowd might be part of the project, but it's not like you have to tally up each person's expenditures to get a real understanding of what's happening.

Roch's right that we need more transparency into any such research, TW is right that off-setting costs need to be factored in, and Mick is right that there's plenty of eyeball evidence for some surge in business during these events.

But you know, now that I think about it, when a journalist asks an economist about the economic impact of something like say, the Greensboro Colliseum, and the economists replies shouldn't the economist have already crunched the numbers? After all, without having crunched the numbers the economist knows no more than you, I or Ed.

And yet we see journalists quoting economists every day with no hard numbers.

White Elephanters will not believe anything positive about the complex. Ever. Period.

The upcoming PAC debate (debacle?) will prove this ... again. A feasability study is being done and the WE's are already bitching. I heard calls for such studies regarding the pool several times. Now one is being talked about and it is already not good enough. Never will be. It is a no win. And that is the The WE's like it.

" There is no question that the impact of the Coliseum and it's ancillary operations have kept Greensboro on the map, provided huge amounts of food, occupancy, rental car, and other taxes.

We have it, it is well run, incredibly well run by Matt Brown, celebrate it........"- Crafty

That's right, the intellectually superior among the tribe have decided once again they are correct and anyone who questions them is just out of touch. Sit down, shut up, keep sending in your tax dollars, and be grateful they are here to tell you what is best for you. It is not important how much of the money disappears down rat holes, they are the correct rat holes because the intellectually superior have told
you so. If some of that money ends up in a rat hole owned by an intellectual superior that is perfectly acceptable because they said so. Some of the tribe just never get it.......

I know, let's do a feasability study for a new PAC that we are sure will never cover the cost of the grand scheme. We will place people strategically on the commitee that are in agreement with us or who have a financial interest and that will pretty much guarantee a study in support of our grand scheme. Now, how do we dupe the taxpayers into paying for it.........

Any of you Intellectul Supremists want to wager say 10 grand that this PAC will not get past the voters? Oh, thats right, I am dealing with the closet intellectuals, the basement dwellers, that have no money. Why else would they be looking for someone else to build their little fantasy lands for them....

You forgot player / musicians / road-crews taxable incomes. When any pro sport or touring act plays in the building, they pay state taxes for the pay they earned in the state. It's not local; and it's not daily, since no pro sports play the building weekly, but the building none the less, is contributing to tax matters in our communities. An often overlooked matter, that when George Shinn was being strung up for needing to expand (skybox and amenity) revenue streams in Charlotte, was also often overlooked.